Hubbard is the only person to be enshrined in both the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Pro Football Hall of Fame.
When people say, “one of a kind”, that can certainly apply to the legendary athlete from Keytesville. Cal Hubbard is a Hall of Famer. And if you want to see his Hall of Fame plaques, you must travel to four different cities.
Hubbard is the only person to ever be selected to the College Football Hall of Fame, the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the National Baseball Hall of Fame, and the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. It’s highly unlikely anybody will ever match those accomplishments either. The Missouri boy is such a legend that he is even credited with inventing the position of Linebacker in football.
Robert Calvin Hubbard was born in the small mid-Missouri town of Keytesville where he also graduated from high school. The small school didn’t offer a football team, so Hubbard spent one year at Glasgow High School so he could play the sport he loved.
Even with little football experience under his belt, Cal was able to play at Centenary College in Louisiana, then later at Geneva College in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where he graduated in 1927. His amazing abilities, matched with his impressive size of 6’4” and 250 pounds, got the attention of the professional football scouts and the opportunity to play professionally.
Hubbard signed with the New York Giants in the National Football League right out of college and made an immediate impact as he helped the team win the league title in his first season. But Hubbard was a country boy at heart, so he requested a trade from the big city to a smaller town more to his liking. He fell in love with Green Bay when the Giants played in Wisconsin, so he was granted a trade to the Packers in 1929 where his career really began to take off.
Hubbard was a great fit for the playing style of Coach Curly Lambeau. His first three seasons with the Packers saw the team win the NFL title every year. He was also named to the first ever NFL All-League team in 1931, then being honored again the following two years. Following that early success, he stepped away from playing to coach at Texas A&M, only to return to the NFL to play once again with the Packers, Giants, and the team that became the Pittsburgh Steelers. In 1963, he was named to the inaugural class of inductees in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. For many athletes, retiring from one sport would be the end of the road. For Hubbard, it was the start of a new career.
Hubbard also loved the sport of baseball and began officiating games while he was playing in the NFL. He officiated games in Major League Baseball for the next few decades until a shotgun blast struck his eye, causing him to partially lose sight in that eye. During his time working in MLB, he officiated in the World Series four times along with several appearance in the All-Star Game.
An eye injury forced him to stop umpiring on a regular basis, so he transitioned into a executive role with MLB. He worked as the American League Umpire Supervisor, along with being a member of the rules committee. He retired from baseball in 1969 after working nearly two decades in his “second” professional sports career. That track record of success landed him in the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1976 making him only the fifth umpire the become a Hall of Famer.
Hubbard spent his later years at his farm in Milan, Missouri and in Florida. He had been a heavy smoker through much of his life and the habit took its toll on his body. He died of cancer in 1977 in St. Petersburg, Florida just a few days before his 77th birthday. According to research by the SABR organization, he is enshrined in 8 halls of fame. He is still honored in his hometowns as well with the football field at Milan named in his honor and the baseball field in Keytesville named after him.
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